The Incredible Shrinkling
by Rynowm
Summary: Have you ever thought that you'd wake up in a bedroom much bigger than the one you've gone to sleep in? No? Well that's exactly what happened to Tom, a turf war veteran. Will he survive in this bizarre state? Let's find out.
1. Prologue

"I should be heading off soon, after playing and winning a lot of turf wars, earning 'big' amounts of money, and experience, with 'little' breaks, it does get tiring."

"What? But you've been an awesome player, I want to play some more with you!"

"I appreciate the compliment, but I am getting tired from this, and I don't want to suddenly collapse during a match, do I? Don't worry, there's always a tomorrow."

"Aww... Ok then..."

"Alright, see you then."

An inkling can be seen walking out of the Inkopolice Tower. The inkling had green tentacles, brown eyes, and white skin. He wears a CoroCoro cap, a white anchor tee, and gold hi-horses around his feet. In his right hand, is a jet squelcher.

"Wait, Tom! Wait!" A feminine voice called out from inside the tower. Causing Tom to cease his walk and turn back towards it.

"What is it?"

Another inkling comes out of the tower. She has large, pink tentacles hanging down her sides, the common 'hairstyle' for girls, brown skin, purple eyes, and wearing the full SQUID GIRL outfit. Her right hand is holding a Splatershot Jr.

"Can I... Um... H-have your... Autograph?" She hesitantly asked. It only made Tom raise an eyebrow.

"Autograph?" He repeated.

"Y-yeah." She, again, hesitantly spoke as she got out a book that she somehow fit in her pocket. That, and a pen.

"Huh, I never thought to have a fan. But I don't see why not." Tom happily said.

He takes the pen and writes on a page in the book. Saying:

'Be the battler I know you can be.

-Tom Kelpton'

"Oh my cod! Thank you so much!" She squealed.

"Uh, Your welcome." Poor boy having to put up with that high pitched noise. It took a minute for the girl to calm down.

"You know..." She started. "I think you'll become famous."

"Really? What makes you think that?" Once again, Tom's eyebrow is raised.

"You seem to win every game. By a lot every time too."

"Well, there are many experienced players, veterans more like. I'm just one of those who's been battling for months. A veteran." Tom explained. "Either everyone I battle seems to be newcomers, or I just happen to be pretty good."

"'Pretty good'?" The girl repeated with wide eyes. "You were exceptional!"

That one got Tom's cheeks to turn slightly red for a moment. "I wouldn't call myself that. But if that's what you think, I won't judge."

"But you're like, the best of the best! You battled other high-levelled players like they were noobs." The girl continued.

"I wouldn't use the term 'noobs', but to be fair, I was in it to win it. I'm not really one of those who mess around in a time like Turf Wars." Tom admitted. "But like I said, it does get tiring. Besides, it's closing soon anyway."

"Is it!?" As the still-unnamed girl got out her phone shaped like a squid, the time on it reads 19:56. "Oh..."

"Again, like I said, there's always a tomorrow."

With a sigh, "Yeah, I guess so." She disappointingly said.

"Ok then." Tom nodded. "See you then."

Finally, both inklings parted their ways. 'I'm not sure whether to be surprised or not if I get any more fans...' Tom thought to himself.

* * *

Fishy Dishes, a nice and quiet café/bar for inklings to get a snack, drink or just chill out at. A nice alternative to the plaza. It is also one of Tom's favourite places.

The interior isn't as posh, or expensive, or the best in general. But it isn't the worst either. There are several brown tables around the edge, each with 2 to 4 chairs around them. Some of them already occupied by inklings. At the end, is the bar itself. With tall stools surrounding it and a bartender on the other side.

"Hey! My old pal, Tom!" The bartender called out with a grin on her face.

"Heh, hey Sam." Tom called back, while walking towards the bar and its tender.

Sam Krillsky is a good friend of Tom, a few years older than him, but still a good friend. She has blue eyes, long, blue tentacles tied into a ponytail, which is quite rare for a girl, and tanned skin. She's about a foot taller than Tom, and she's wearing the standard café uniform, which looks similar to a typical waitress's uniform. The key difference, is that the parts that would be white would change colour to match the tentacles. In Sam's case: Blue.

She is always happy to serve Tom drinks and listen to any stories he may have. But because she works at the café, she and Tom aren't able to spend much time with each other. So this is pretty much the only place they can do so, when Tom pays a visit at the café.

"So what you want this time?" Sam asked as Tom got on to one of the stools.

"I'll just have the usual."

"Blended shrimp?"

"That's right."

"Alright then. One glass of blended shrimp, coming up." Sam happily said as she turned around to prepare the drink while Tom gets out a few coins. "You want ice?" She jokingly asked.

"What!? Why'd..." Tom's eyes widened a lot at that question. "Ice cubes are used in fizzy drinks or to keep a drink cold! Blended shrimp isn't meant to be cold!"

"I'm only joking, Tom." Sam laughed. "Calm down."

That only got Tom to growl slightly. But soon calmed down by taking a deep breath through his nose.

"Well, here ya go." A large glass full of a beige liquid with small remains of shrimp is placed in front of Tom. While the coins are scooped up by Sam. "So, anything interesting happening recently?"

"Well, I seem to have a fan." Tom started, while taking a sip of his drink. But suddenly eyed at it strangely, however, he soon dismissed any thoughts about the drink.

"Problem?" Sam noticed his reaction, her face showing concern.

"This drink seemed to taste different from last time, but that's probably just me."

"If ya say so. But anyway, what do ya mean by 'a fan'? Is someone a fan of ya?" Sam's head tilted to the side, with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, this girl asked me to sign an autograph. Then she told me that she thinks I'll get famous."

"Famous?" She repeated. "What were ya doing?"

"I was simply being good at turf wars."

"I hardly believe that. There are hundreds of experienced turf war players, players that are good at it. Why you out of everyone else?"

"She was going on about me being exceptional, the best of the best, that kinda thing."

"I see. Well, you may have a fan, but don't you dare think that you're as famous as the squid sisters." She playfully pointed at Tom.

"I know I'm not 'famous'." Tom quoted that last word. "But I'm more famous than you." He smirked.

"Oh har har har." She laughed sarcastically. "Very funny. Hey, I actually have a day off tomorrow." Sam quickly changing the subject.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, I've been working practically all day, everyday. And my boss allowed me to have a day off. So I chose tomorrow. At least this is a good chance for us to hang out."

"I suppose it is. Alright then, how about the plaza tomorrow morning?" Tom suggested.

"Actually, I don't think I've been at your place."

"Wait, really? After all this time we've known each other?"

"No, I don't think I've ever visited your place."

"Huh, ok then. Flounder Heights, room 417."

"That's your home?"

"Yup." Tom confidently said.

"Ok then, how about 10 am?"

"Sounds good to me." Tom said with no hesitation.

"Sweet!"

"Alright then, I'll be off now." All the while Tom and Sam were talking, Tom was occasionally drinking his blended shrimp. Finishing it off and handing the empty glass back to Sam, Tom slides off his stool and walks towards the exit. "See ya!" He calls back.

"Bye!"

Outside seems a little darker than before, the sky turning from a blue to a fiery orange, some street lamps are turning on, lights in apartment complexes can be seen turning on as well. The overall city activity seems to have dropped a little.

'Beautiful scenery, but I should be getting home soon.' Tom thought to himself while looking up.

A sigh of relaxation escapes his mouth. And he takes off towards one of the turf war maps, that doubles as an apartment complex, Flounder Heights.

Back in the café, Sam was grinning to herself. 'Now I just have to wait.' She thought, as puts a small, empty glass container back in her back pocket.

* * *

Tom's home is decently large. With all the essential needs for any inkling: TV, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, plenty of space to walk around in, anything an inkling needs. This apartment room has a spare room that would be used as a guest's bedroom. Tom, however, uses it to store all of his weapons that he accumulated over his life in the city.

There's a huge variety of weapons in there, Splatershots, rollers, blasters, sloshers, pretty much any weapon an inkling can get from Ammo Knights. The whole place is tidy and sorted. With each weapon class grouped separately.

After placing the Jet Squelcher back to where it belongs, and the ink tank, Tom came out with his eyelids half shut. His movement is slow, his left arm dangling at the side, and the other is on top of his head. A large yawn breaks free.

"Ugh, why do I have this headache..." Tom muttered to himself.

Outside an open window, thousands of bright stars can be seen. But what stands out in the dark blue sky is the moon. Big and bold, sticking out like a sore thumb. Many lights on the streets and rooms alike are on.

The door to the bedroom opens, as Tom trudged through it. His eyes are struggling to stay open, as he makes his way straight to his bed. As soon as he was close enough...

FLOP

Tom just flopped onto his bed, face-planting into the pillow. Not even bothering to change out of his everyday clothes, nor even getting under his quilt. It wasn't long until snores can be heard.


	2. A big surprise

**Auther's notes: For those who have already read the first chapter, I suggest that you read it again as I have republished it. The reason? A review. More details at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

With the sun moving upwards, it's heat finally warms up the city, after a cold, cold night. The sun rays invade each room in each building.

One room in particular, within Flounder Heights, is the bed belonging to a green-tentacled boy. The heat from the sun wants to wake him up, but he didn't want to. He started to turn, hoping that there's some nearby shade. But unlucky to him, the sunlight covers his entire bed.

No shade for Tom, no sleep for Tom. The sun wins.

A pair of eyelids flutter open. Slowly, but surely. Revealing a pair of brown eyes. As Tom woke up, the upper half of his body slowly pointed upwards. A left hand quickly slapped onto his head while the eyes shut again.

"Ugh, waking up with a headache is never easy..." He moaned.

Opening up his eyes, he takes a look around. Double checking that he is in the same, familiar bedroom: Side table to the right? Check. Desk next to that? Check. Cupboard in the corner? Check. Posters, pictures, leaflets, and other things involving an image hanging on the wall? Check.

All seems good. Tom keeps having dreams where he always wakes up in unknown places. He's now mildly paranoid every morning, making sure that he isn't dreaming any more. Hopefully.

He swings his legs to the right, letting them drop over the edge of the bed. Only to find that they're actually still on it, even his feet. In fact, as he looks for the edge, it turns out to be quite a distance from him. That's not normal.

"Did...did I fall on the floor? But my carpet's dark-blue, and my bed's white. Why am I seeing white all across?" Being alone, he can get away with thinking out loud.

Taking a second look around, he noticed that his pillow looks more like a wall. The ceiling seems to be a lot higher, and the walls seem to be a lot further away than normal.

The three hearts of Tom's started speeding up, as he started to realise either one of two things: The entire world suddenly got a whole lot bigger, or he has shrunken down.

"Th-this can't be happening. This can't be happening!" He quickly stood up, only to stumble a bit due to the bed being a lot softer than he expected. But he soon got his balance.

He started accelerating towards the edge of his bed... At an unexpectedly high rate. It caught Tom off guard, and he immediately stopped. Decelerating just as quick.

"How did I get that quick so quickly?" He said to himself. "I must be dreaming. This has to be a dream! No way I can run that quickly, sure, I might be agile, but still!"

His eyes close, and his head turns downward. "OK, there has to be a reason behind all this." He reopens his eyes and looks towards his alarm clock. The numbers on it display 9:56. The eyes widen greatly.

"Oh s***. If this is real, then Sam is going to arrive here very soon! Oh cod, I hope not!" He pinches his arm, hoping to wake up from this nightmare. All that came out of it was pain on the arm. "OK, that confirms that this isn't a dream." He moaned from the pain.

"Wait a minute, Sam is my friend. She wouldn't hurt me, she never has. But what about in this state?" He asked himself as he looked down at himself. Sighing. "Now I'm not sure..."

 **-Later-**

Ten o'clock in the morning hit. The time Tom and Sam agreed that she visits his apartment at. And the poor boy was just sitting there, waiting anxiously. "Any time now. Assuming she isn't late or early. Is Sam even aware of my state? Surely not."

Footsteps can be heard through the walls. Very faint ones. But they seam to be getting louder towards his main apartment door. They stopped, and Tom's heartbeat is accelerating. A moment of tense silence, there was. It felt like an eternity to Tom. But not more than a few seconds later-

KNOCK

KNOCK

KNOCK

For all Tom knows, anyone could be at the door. But Sam is the only inkling expected to be there. Question is: How is Tom going to answer it? He has to travel through his bedroom, through the hallway, then the living room, and get to the door handle. Did Tom even lock the door? If he didn't then-

"Hello!?" Sam's voice called out. "You left your door unlocked!" Well that answers at least one question.

Tom's starting to panic. If Sam finds him like this, what will she do? Help him? Play with him? Torture him? Or worse? How will she react? Shocked? Scared? What will he do? Run? Call for help? Stand there?

"Tom?" Sam called again. "Where are you?" The sound of doors opening and closing reaches his ears. Each time sounds like she's getting closer to his bedroom. "Wow, nice collection of weapons." He heard Sam say. She must be in his 'guest bedroom', until the sound of the door closing occurred.

If he remembers correctly, his hallway has five doors: One leads to the main living room, one to the bathroom, one to the kitchen, one to the guest bedroom, and the last one to his bedroom. Four doors already opened an closed, so that means-

"You in here, Tom?" Her voice boomed throughout the room. As she appeared in his doorway, which is already open. To him, Sam was huge! Looking around 100, maybe 200 feet tall. Even from a distance. The pair of blue eyes carefully scanning the room, looking for him. Until her direct vision landed onto his bed, in turn, onto him.

The already large eyes slowly widened even larger. To Tom at least. His hearts are pounding. His legs are shaking. His mind is struggling. The two inklings, one scared, one surprised, stared at each other in silence. No one knows if it's getting awkward or not.

But the silence eventually broke. "T-Tom? Is that you?" Sam whispered.

"Uh...y-y-yeah?" Being practically scared s***less, it's impossible for Tom to not stutter.

Sam slowly walked to his bed. Each footstep emitting a noticeable vibration to Tom. Vibrations getting stronger every time as the giantess gets closer. Once at the edge of the bed, she kneels down, until her chin is resting on the bed. But to him, the size of Sam's head is over twice his height! He only reaches her nose.

"Um... What happened to you?" She whispered.

"I-I-I d-don't know." Tom stuttered.

Sam paused for a moment, looking down to her right, away from Tom. Then looked back at him, smiling. "Don't worry, Tom, I won't hurt you."

Fortunately, that managed to calm him down a bit. Not entirely, but enough to at least stop shaking.

"R-really?" Tom may have known Sam for who knows how long and not one time did he realise how soothing her voice can be.

"Really. Why would I intentionally hurt a good friend of mine?"

"..."

Sam lightly chuckled to herself, lifting up her head and holding out her right hand in front of Tom, face up. But the boy only eyed it with an eyebrow raised.

"Don't be shy, climb on." Sam encouraged.

"Actually..." Tom finally spoke, starting to get back his confidence. "I think it'd be a better idea if I navigate around my apartment by myself."

"Oh? Why would you want to do that?"

"Because there will be times when you aren't around to... Oh what's the word... Babysit me? Take care of me? Look after me? Whatever. The point is, there will be times that you won't be with me. So I'll need to get around on my own, big or small." He explained.

"Oh, fair enough then. I'll see you in the living room then." She got back up and walked out of the room, headed towards the living room.

Tom is now alone, and Sam is waiting for him in the other room, so he needs to get there. He did say so himself, after all. But because of his tiny size, he'll need to think a little differently.

He looks around, trying to come up with a plan. He thinks about when he accelerated and decelerated very quickly, perhaps he could use that to his advantage. What about jumping? Since he's shrunken down, his volume is greatly reduced, assuming his density didn't change, that means his mass is also reduced, making him a lot lighter. So theoretically, he would be able to jump a lot higher.

Overall, perhaps being shrunken down allows him to move around a lot easier.

He walks to the edge of his bed and looks down. The floor seems to be quite a distance to Tom, even though in reality, it's not high at all. Building up the courage, he takes a few steps back, sprinted quickly towards the edge, and jumped.

The jump launched him high into the air, way higher than his bed, way higher than all of his furniture. In fact, he almost hit the ceiling!

"Whoa! Okay, I guessed I would jump higher than before, but not this high!" A normal sized inkling could leap about 1.5 metres into the air, that alone could easily allow them to jump over each other. But to Tom, he could still easily do so.

Not only that, but as he reached his peak and started to fall back downward, Tom soon made a mental note of how fast he would gain and loss altitude when he jumps. As he fell slowly, he reposed himself to that of a skydiver, with his arms and legs spread out. The only difference is, he doesn't have a parachute, then again, inklings wouldn't need one as they don't have any bones. They can survive any fall.

As he neared the floor, Tom reposed himself again to brace for landing, angling upright, extending his legs and arms out to the side. The floor got closer and closer, until it hit him. He bent his knees to absorb some of the impact, if there was much of that to begin with.

He looked up. The whole hallway extended for a huge distance, both in length and height. It was literally a lot to take in, even more so if you take into account that this is Tom's own apartment, his own 'turf'.

The door that leads to the living room is open, and Tom can see Sam sitting on the sofa, watching the TV. It looks like a very long distance to him, but judging from his journey so far, such as jumping high enough to almost touch the ceiling, this shouldn't be a problem, right?

He took off, quickly sprinting towards the back of the sofa. Even using his light weight to his advantage, making consistent hops to briefly float above the ground, maintaining a great speed. As he got close enough to the sofa, he brought both his legs forward and bent them, preparing for another jump. When his feet touched the floor, Tom quickly extended his legs and launched himself high into the air once again.

Though in reality, Tom jumped high enough to reach the back of the sofa, he landed next to Sam's right shoulder, but on the cushion she's relaxing on. He now has a clear view of what Sam is watching: The Inkopolis news, with the famous squid sisters talking about something different.

"Huh, I didn't know they do highlights of turf wars." Tom commented, loud enough for Sam to hear.

"They literally said that this is their first time doing so. Surprised me as well." She told him.

On the TV, is the duo themselves, Callie and Marie. They are talking about some great moments in last night's matches. The current one is on Camp Triggerfish, a ranked battle using the Rainmaker rule set. But what surprised Tom was that the camera was pointing directly at him in the game.

"Here is some awesome defending, pulled off by Tom Kelpton, Callie." Marie started. "The entire green team is getting close to their goal and most of the blue team is splatted-"

"Hey, that's you, Tom!" Sam interrupted.

"I know, I'm trying to listen." He responded.

In the highlight, the four members of the green team are on the grates just before the blue goal. One of them has the golden weapon itself, they were about to win. Only one blue-team member is standing: Tom Kelpton, using a Jet Squelcher. He throws a splash wall to block the almighty tornadoes from the Rainmaker, while using the huge range of the gun to pick off the enemy team players. The enemies can't fire at him due to his wall and they ended up getting splatted, including the inkling with the Rainmaker. The rest of the blue team finally re-spawned, one by one, and helped Tom take the Rainmaker straight to the green goal. The blue team won with a KO.

"Wow, to think that Jet Squelchers aren't really common in ranked battles, that is really impressive." Callie commented. "Imagine how devastated the green team were after that match."

"I kinda want to talk to this Tom Kelpton, talk to him about that match." Marie said to herself, but unfortunately loud enough for Callie to hear and the camera to pick up, letting Tom and Sam hear it.

"Oh? What was that? Does Marie have a crush on someone?" Callie teased.

"What!?" Marie yelped in surprise, quickly covering her mouth. "Erm, Uh... N-no, no I don't." Her eyes darting from side to side, looking at any direction but Callie, who was only giggling to herself.

"You know Marie, for all we know, Tom could be watching this show. If he finds out that-"

"I don't have a crush on him!" Marie yelled, interrupting Callie. She was sweating heavily. "C-can we just move on?"

"Okay, okay." Callie was still giggling. She turns towards the camera. "Until next time..."

"Stay fresh!" They both said in unison while posing. The TV suddenly turned off, as Sam turned her head towards Tom.

"Well well well, looks like a celebrity has a crush on you." Sam told him.

"Whether Marie actually has a crush on me or not may be an interesting topic to talk about, but I'm not entirely concerned about that. I'm more concerned about how she would react if she sees me like this." He said as he gestured to himself, shrunken down to no bigger than a fist. "Or if anyone else sees me like this after that highlight for that matter."

"You want to go outside and find out?" Sam playfully asked.

"Right now? No, not today at least." He rejected. "I don't feel like I'm ready to take on the world again, only this time, the world is ten times bigger."

"I don't know about the 'ten times' part." She playfully pointed at him.

"Well, whatever the exact scale is, my point still stands." He told her while taking a minor step away from Sam's finger. "I might as well get used to this small state because for all I know, this could be permanent."

"I dunno." Sam countered. "There could be an antidote for this."

"And how would you know?" Tom asked. Which caused Sam to lose a sweat drop.

"Um... I was... Just guessing." She smiled sheepishly, while looking away.

"Right..." Tom slowly spoke. Her reaction to his last question was rather unusual.

"Anyway, don't you have a 'morning routine' or something?" Sam asked, trying to change the subject. "Such as freshening up, breakfast and the like?"

The small boy raised an eyebrow. He lifted up his right arm and sniffed his armpit, which was very unpleasant. He recoiled from the whiff, realising that he never did so this morning.

This is going to be a long day, Tom can tell.

* * *

 **Auther's note: How will Tom survive in his now much larger home? Only time will tell... And my desire to write the next chapter. I'm also open to suggestions for future chapters and what to put Tom through.  
**

 **Anyway, I have two reviews to respond to. Take note that these were published before the re-upload of chapter 1.**

SpoilFiveDecisions (Chapter 1): "So in this you mention and Pepsi. Except almost everything was destroyed in the great flood, even if some can survived, there's no way the recipe would have survived a flood. Also, you say at one part, that there are legit thousands of other 'famous' turf war players. Then you also say that they're not very popular, so assuming the two people at the end are targeting him because he's famous. Which doesn't make sense as he only has one fan. If they were targeting him because of popularity, then he's one of the worst options. They could've chosen the squid sisters or someone with more fans. Also, this guy seems really rude. I don't know if that's what you were going for, but he's kind of rude."

 **Rynowm: "Okay, some good points there. I hope that the re-upload has fixed all of them, including the plot itself. So thanks for the review."**

dillxox123 (Chapter 1): "Interesting..."

 **Rynowm: "Indeed... Though I hope it stays that way despite the re-upload."**


	3. The morning routine

"So... What do you do first thing in the morning?" Sam started.

Tom is still standing on the back of his sofa while Sam is still sitting on it as normal, with her head turned towards the small boy, who doesn't look very comfortable after hearing that question.

"Well uh..." The boy scratches the back of his head, wondering how to word his morning routine, if it's even a good idea to tell Sam about it. Why shouldn't he? Sam's his friend, she'll most likely help him if he needs it. But if it backfires and Sam takes advantage of his size, it's probably best not to think about that.

"Surely you don't just go outside as soon as you wake up." Sam interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"I'm not entirely sure if it's a good idea..." He muttered.

"Come on, Tom. What's the worst that could happen?" Sam twisted the upper-half of her body and placed her right arm on the back of the sofa, very close to Tom. The kid saw the sudden movement and took another step back.

"Death?" He responded.

Sam's head lowered a bit, along with her eyebrows and mouth.

"Do you really think I would let you die?" She asked.

Tom paused and pondered. Perhaps if Sam truly is a good friend, then it might be a good idea after all.

Sighing, "I guess not."

* * *

The bathroom consists of all typical furniture, a toilet, a bathtub with a shower head above it, a sink and a window to let out any... unpleasant smells an inkling may have released. The windowsill has a bunch of different lotions and potions such as soap, shampoo and others.

The door to the bathroom opens, as Sam walks in with Tom riding on her right palm. He's kneeling down to keep himself stable, tolerating the unpredictable movements of the platform he's on. Though if he does lose his balance or struggle to keep it, Sam can always catch him or keep him secure herself.

"The first thing I do in the morning is likely going to be the hardest task for me to do when shrunken down." He started.

"And what would that be? Taking a shower?" Sam guessed. "That's what I do first."

The lucky guess somewhat surprised Tom, then again, a shower is commonly the first thing any civilised inkling does in the morning.

"Y-yes. Yes it is." Tom hesitantly answered. "But the regular shower is going to be far too big for me to handle. How am I going to have one?"

With her free hand up to her chin, Sam looks around in thought. The toilet wouldn't be a good idea: If Tom's inside when it's flushing, it would be disastrous for both Tom and Sam. Tom would be flushed away to some sewage plant and wouldn't survive there for long, if he even survives the journey, and Sam would never forgive herself ever.

Quickly shaking that thought out of her head, she looks elsewhere. The sink? That could work, she could put the plug in to block the clear-ink (a neutral 'colour' of ink for all inklings, whatever their colours are) from draining and fill up the sink to create a miniature bathtub just for Tom. Perfect!

From her hand, Tom followed her gaze towards the sink and soon got the same idea, "I think the sink settles it."

"Agreed."

With the tap turned on and the plug closed off, the sink slowly fills up with clear-ink.

"I'd say, perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as I thought." Tom started as he jumped off of the platform of Sam's hand towards the left of the sink.

"Trust me, Tom. I know what I'm doing."

"You say that as if you're going to wash me like a mother would to a young child." He said as he started to take off his clothes.

"What? Don't be silly. I'll give you your privacy, but if you do need any help, just call out." It was then she noticed that Tom has took off his white anchor tee, revealing a surprisingly muscular frame. "Whoa, is that a six-pack?"

Hearing this, "Heh, what can I say? I do occasionally use rollers and splatlings, both of which are very heavy and easily help build up some of these." He stated while flexing, showing off his muscles. "Even though I main a Jet Squelcher."

"Just how did you hide your muscles so well that I never noticed?"

Tom paused for a bit, "That's... actually something I'm not entirely sure myself."

"Hmph, well you'd certainly surprise any girl with those bad boys." Sam smirked. "Especially Marie."

"Anyway!" Tom called out. "I usually use Inkline Frost Soap when I'm having a bath instead of a shower. Using the tap as a shower head is going to be difficult."

"I suppose you're right." Sam replied. Grabbing the canister of the liquid soap, she inspects it herself. "Frost Soap huh?" She hummed.

"You know Inkline, known for outdoor products, especially protective clothes. Frost Soap is one of their 'miscellaneous' products that happens to fit the company's general theme." Tom explained. "It actually works for me when I'm outdoors, which I really like."

"Hmph." Sam hummed in amusement. She opens the lid and squeezes some of the soap into the sink, creating some bubbles in contrast to the relatively thick clear-ink. "Anything else you need?"

"Nope, that's it for a bath."

"Not even something for your tentacles?"

"Frost Soap works for the entire body, including the tentacles."

"If you say so." Sam finished. She turned to leave the bathroom. "I'll be waiting in the living room." She said before closing the door behind her, allowing Tom to wash up.

He takes off his shorts, exposing the remainder of his body. He first looks up at wear he usually hangs his towels, luckily, there's already one that's reachable. Don't want Sam seeing him completely naked, he thought.

He jumps in, morphing into a green squid while in mid-air. Normally, if a regular inkling was jumping into a public swimming pool, they would create a splash. But with his small size, he only plopped in.

He swims around mindlessly, occasionally spinning like a Kraken would when it's attacking. After a while, Tom swims back up to the surface and morphs back into a kid. Floating in the middle of the sink in a star-like pose, silently.

"So this is my new life." He thought. "Everything I've ever known is now much bigger, much heavier, much..." He paused, trying to think of another word to describe everything around him.

"Urgh, I shouldn't think like that! I can deal with this, I haven't got a challenge in a while, I should think of this as a perfect opportunity for a challenge. Literally on a larger scale!" He yelled out, still looking up towards the ceiling. He sighed, his chest visibly lowering as he did so.

Another while has passed of the boy the just floating among the bubbles in the sink. "I think that's enough." He said to himself before swimming to the edge. Once he got the the edge, he tried to climb out, but ended up sliding back down into the clear-ink. It seems to be too slippery to climb out.

"How am I going to get out? I don't want to call Sam, I want to be at least in my shorts when I'm in front of her." He looks around the perimeter of the sink, nothing helpful, no physical object in sight that could potentially assist him.

Another idea came to Tom's mind, plan B: Velocity. By definition, the speed of something in a given direction. He could swim downwards to allow a build-up of speed back upwards and out of the sink. The extra weight of the clear-ink may be a minor issue, but it shouldn't be the reason to fail this plan.

He morphs into a squid, swims downwards, thankfully, the sink is deep enough for him, and looked back up. The last times he jumped in the air sent him soaring higher than a normal super-jump would. To avoid any incidents regarding that, he must control his speed.

Tom's velocity needs to be great enough and angled correctly to get out of the sink, but not too much to land in an unnecessary area.

"Meh, f*** it." He shrugged off the calculations and went for it. "I'm not turning back!" With speed built up and the surface drawing near, he braced himself.

Ripples started to form in the sink, gradually getting bigger and bigger until a green squid leapt out and onto the side of it, right where a pile of clothes are. The squid morphed into Tom, he looked towards his clothes, then to his wet body, then to the towel. The latter happened to be on the other side of the sink.

"Not a problem." He jumped over the sink and landed on the other side, right next to the towel. The huge, white sheet of ink-absorbing fabric, most effective on clear-ink, but can wipe off ink stains from different surfaces.

He grabs the towel and rubs what he can on his body, drying a majority of the clear-ink off, albeit with a bit of difficulty and time.

With his body now fresh and free of clear-ink, Tom made his way back to his clothes, via jumping. He puts on the shorts with no hesitation, then one by one equipped the rest of his gear, finishing with his cap.

A low rumble sounded, as Tom looked down at himself while rubbing his stomach. He knew what's next: Breakfast.

* * *

The TV is displaying an advert of some random pair of Krak-on shoes, whatever, Sam wasn't really paying much attention to it anyway. She's sitting on the sofa, staring at her phone with a bored expression on her face.

The tiny inkling jumps onto the back of the sofa, right behind Sam's head. Despite an inkling's great hearing ability, he went unnoticed. As Tom got closer, he took a peek at what's on the phone: A text conversation with a friend of hers. Tom couldn't see the exact text messages though.

"I hope you're not talking about my shrinking situation, are you?" He started.

Sam turned her head towards where the sound came from and spotted Tom. With an 'Oh really?' face. Unfortunately, this only raised Tom's suspicion.

"Don't worry, Tom. I've kept your problem a secret, for now. Unless you want me to-"

"No!" He interrupted. "Not until I show myself to the public at the very least."

"Okay, okay, jeez! No need to get mad."

"I'm not mad." He countered. "I'm just...paranoid."

After a moment of Sam looking down in thought, she held up her left hand towards Tom, palm facing upwards. He climbed on and braced himself for the movement. Sam moved her hand towards her face, carrying Tom with it.

"Don't worry, Tom. I'm sure that after your turf war highlight, and the sisters' talk after that, everyone would respect you." She assured him.

To Tom, being carried to a face the size of a house is an extraordinary experience, yet Tom can tell it's going be a common one throughout his new life. He better get used to it. Not to mention that more often than not, strangers are going to do so. Which reminds him of his one fan, if what Sam said is true, people would be admiring a tiny inkling that is no longer able to play turf wars. It's as if he's forced to ret-

"Tom?" The voice finally brought him back to reality. He's still standing on Sam's hand, right in front of her face. "You seemed to have zoned there."

"Oh, uh..." He tried to think, but lowered his head in defeat. "Yeah, I did."

A loud rumble arose. Both inklings raised their pointy ears to listen. Turns out that the noise was coming from Tom. More specifically, his stomach.

"That reminds me, I still have a breakfast to have." He pointed out.

"Wow, for a small guy, you sure have a loud one." Sam joked. But Tom stayed silent to that. "Anyway, what do you normally have for breakfast?"

He looked down in thought. "Consider this 'strange behaviour' if you want, but I actually take a random cereal box from the cupboard and just tip some of it into a bowl."

His answer made Sam pause for a moment, she did not expect that from him. "Uh, okay. What kinds of cereal do you have?"

"Shrimp Nuggets, Crusta-Pops, Puffer Hoops, etcetera. Quite a variety to me."

"So...do you want me to do the same as you do?" Sam asked as she got up and started heading towards the kitchen.

"Well, it's not like I can force you, but if you want to step into my shoes, you can." He answered. "Though not literally." He added as he saw that Sam has stopped, eyeing a pair of his Pro Trail Boots.

"I was only wondering what gear you have really. What abilities do they have?"

"Bomb sniffer, plus two defence ups and a bomb range up. I sometimes wear them when I switch to a different weapon, like a Splattershot Jr."

"Ah, okay." She finished as she entered the kitchen.

The kitchen consisted of several wooden cupboards across the perimeter, along with a couple of draws, on top of those is a single large marble surface to put things like a microwave, toaster, etc. Above that are even more wooden cupboards. Each storage item is filled with various food, dishes and cutlery. There is also an oven between two of the cupboards. In the middle of the kitchen is a wooden rectangular table with four wooden chairs around it, one at each side.

"So where do you keep your cereal?" Sam asked.

"Directly above the toaster." Tom answered plain & simply.

With a nod of her head, Sam went over to the cupboard above the toaster. She turned her head away from it as she opened it. She put her free hand into the cupboard and picked out a cereal box without looking: Puffer Hoops. But she was eyeing it for longer than Tom thought she would.

"In case you're wondering, those hoops are made from real puffer fish. Though most of them are very poisonous, manufacturers somehow found a way to extract the poison from them before the rest of the process into the hoops and sent to the shops. The fish are deadly, but the hoops aren't." He explained.

"Huh, I guess you learn something new every day." Sam spoke rather absent mindedly.

"I think to accord to my shrunken state, it might be best to just take out one or two hoops, if I remember their size correctly and looking at them now." He suggested.

Sam placed the box on the table, while allowing Tom to jump off her hand onto the table, freeing her left hand. She opens the box then the bag inside, she puts one hand into the box and fished out (Get it?) two hoops. She places them right next to Tom.

Though the hoops seemed small to Sam, the size of regular rings, but to Tom, they seemed more like hats. He picked one up, using both of his hands, rather than being able to hold several of these in one hand.

He looked up and saw Sam staring at him, smiling. Which is starting to make him feel a little uncomfortable, hesitating to eat the hoop in his hands.

"What you waiting for?" Sam asked after a moment.

"W-well, I'm not entirely used to having someone watch me eat a breakfast. Especially if that someone is a giantess to me." He honestly answered. He didn't have many visitors throughout his life in Inkopolis. Mainly because he prefers to meet other inklings in public places instead as it is morally recommended to do so, even more so if the would-be-visitor is someone you don't know very much.

But Sam's case is a bit different: Sure, the two know each other very well, possibly best-friends level, but because of how little free time Sam has, she wasn't able to visit Tom's apartment.

Until now.

"Aww, but you look so cute there." She whined.

'I'm going to get this from all the girls I meet, aren't I?' Tom thought to himself. "I-I'm being serious, could you just... not stare at me?"

"*sigh* Okay." She reluctantly said, now looking at a different direction.

Now that she's no longer staring him down, Tom can eat his Puffer Hoop. Bite after bite, he slowly consumed the hoop, which tasted somewhat like salmon, a crispy-chewy mixture. Once done with one, he felt like it was enough, it was equivalent to a standard bowl of the hoops.

"One was enough for me." Sam heard Tom say. She looked down at him, spotting only one hoop next to him, the one he left.

Without saying anything, she picked up the other hoop with a mere thumb and index finger and popped it in her mouth. The hoop quickly chewed up and swallowed.

"Hmm, it is quite delicious. I might buy a box for myself."

As Tom watched her swallow the hoop as if it was almost nothing sent a shiver down his back as he swallowed himself. Compared to how many bites it took him to eat his hoop, it only took her one with plenty of room to spare.

"Well, if you say that's breakfast sorted, what next, little boy?" She asked in a somewhat flirtatious manner.

"Um..." He hesitated, he didn't like how she asked that question. Nor is he sure of what's going to happen next, considering her recent behaviour. "That's... actually it. I just wash up and have breakfast."

"Well okay then. Unless you have any other plans for today, I guess we could just watch TV together."

Tom didn't really have anything else in mind, in fact, watching TV would be the one thing he would suggest himself.

* * *

 **Here's something you don't see everyday, a 3000 word chapter about a morning routine. Just as a reminder, I am taking requests for this story.  
**

 **Anyway, I have 2 reviews:**

SpoilFiveDecisions (Chapter 2): "This chapter was really good! The only mistake that I noticed was you misspelled "Inkopolis" as "Inkopolice" and first I thought you were making a cop show. But this is a very good improvement."

 **Rynowm: "Spelling mistakes aren't too concerning, but thanks for the correction. And thank you in general by the way."**

MightyTheWriter (Chapter 2): "I think this is story is starting out great! As for suggestions maybe a chapter of Tom during his normal routines in his home with his new size or maybe a chapter where a rep for inkopolis news looks for him so he can be interviewed by the Squid Sisters."

 **Rynowm: "Morning routines are a must, shrunken or not. I had that idea right after posting chapter 2, but the interview is taken into consideration. How will I execute it? You'll just have to wait and see."**


	4. Lunch Time

Meanwhile, in the Squid Sisters' studio, the duo have just finished their turf war highlights and have the 'okay' that they're no longer on air.

"Whew, broadcasting always gets tiring, doesn't it, Marie?" Callie stated as they sat down at their table while the other staff started leaving the room.

Marie on the other hand, only stayed silent.

"Marie? You okay? Is something bothering you?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." Marie mumbled, though loud enough for Callie to hear. The sister in green rests her head on her right hand, while her right elbow was resting on the table. Hearing that answer made Callie's eyes widen.

"What? Please, tell me what's going on, Marie. I might be able to help." She begged.

"It's nothing you should worry about, Callie." Marie stated. Which made Callie stop talking, she folded her arms and rested them on the table, placing her head on them as well. She looks out of the glass wall and spotted a couple of inklings watching them, she gave them a smile and wave. The kids outside waved back with bigger smiles, soon leaving afterwards with springs in their steps.

The sister returns her attention back towards Marie, 'What could she be thinking about?' Callie wondered with an eyebrow raised.

* * *

"Wait, I've got it! It's actually an easy one: Seventy-five minus three is seventy-two, times by ten is seven-hundred-and-twenty. Twenty-five minus five plus two is twenty-two, add it on to get seven-hundred-and-forty-two." Tom calculated while watching a game-show. The countdown reaching zero just as he finished.

For the past couple of hours, Tom and Sam have been simply watching TV. Seeing various shows of many ages. Some been discovered as ancient 'relics' created by the previous intelligent species and then modernised, some being great classics, and some completely new and original. What they're currently watching is one of those 'relics' that have been modernised.

"Huh, clever. I never got that." Sam mused as she stared at the screen. On it, is the game-show Countdown, two contestants, one male inkling, one female inkling were working out the same problem, with 2, 3, 5, 10, 25 and 75, make 742. They can only use each number once.

 _"Okay, what have you got, Jack?"_ The presenter of the show started.

 _"I've got 742."_ He responded.

 _"Rebecca, how about you?"_

 _"Same, 742."_ She responded.

"How are they getting it?" Sam questioned.

 _"And Jack, we'll start with you."_

 _"Seventy-five minus three is seventy-two."_ Jack started. _"Multiplied by ten gives seven-twenty, Twenty-five plus two minus five is twenty-two, then add it on."_

A round of applause rose for Jack.

 _"And Rebecca?"_

 _"Same."_ She said, showing Jack her paper to prove that she did the same method. Which Jack nodded to.

Suddenly, the TV switched off, as Sam put down the remote.

"Why did you do that? I was enjoying that show." Tom complained from Sam's right shoulder.

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling rather hungry." She said calmly.

"Really? What time is it?" Just as he asked that, a very loud rumble sounded throughout the room.

"Lunch time." Sam answered while turning her head towards Tom. But what he noticed was that she had a grin on her face. He decided to pretend he didn't for now.

He looks at the clock behind them, it's almost noon. Which is not only lunch time, but the next stage rotation for turf wars.

"So it is." He accepted. "Any ideas?"

"Actually, as owner of the apartment, I thought you would decide." Sam pointed out.

"Good point, hmm..." He looked down, thinking about what to have for lunch. For the past few days, Tom has actually been going out to different restaurants and cafés. He probably would plan to go to another one today if he didn't shrink. "We could look in my kitchen for something. Maybe a soup?" He suggested.

With that, and a nod, Sam got up from the sofa with Tom hanging onto her shoulder.

* * *

"Okay girls, you are on air in three... two... one..."

"Hold on to your tentacles..."

"It's Inkopolis news time."

With 12:00 hitting, it's time for the next stage rotation. For this story's sake, we're just going to summarise the stages. Turf wars now take place at Urchin Underpass and Hammerhead Bridge, while ranked battles are now at Arowana Mall and Piranha Pit.

"That's all we have for now, until text time..." Callie started.

"Stay fresh!" They both finished while striking their signature pose.

Once they're now off air for the afternoon, they decided to go and get some lunch.

"What's on your mind, Marie? You've been acting a little weird since the last broadcast." Callie asked on their way to the café directly below their studio.

"Really, it's nothing." Marie answered for the umpteenth time.

'Something is definitely up. I'm going to have to take a guess or two.' Callie thought. 'If she still refuses to talk about it, I'll have to take it to the next level.'

"Are you thinking about a certain boy?"

Marie wasn't expecting that question. She swallowed. "C-Callie, I don't want to talk about it."

"Marie, I'm not stopping until I'm satisfied. I want you to tell me what's going on in your mind." Callie sternly told her sister as they entered the café.

This wasn't what Marie expected, Callie never talked to her like that in the past. She was always bright and bubbly before, but hearing her talk like that somewhat scared Marie.

Eventually, she gave in, "Okay Callie, I'll talk."

'Now that's more like it!' Callie thought, smiling triumphantly.

"There's... there's been a..." Marie hesitated, there's no going back from here. "A boy..." She mumbled.

"A what?" Her sister asked as they sat down at a table.

"A boy, Callie." She stated, loud enough for Callie to hear.

"A boy? Who?"

Marie hesitated, should she tell her who exactly she's thinking about? If she doesn't, Callie's just going to bug her until she does.

"T-Tom..." She quietly said.

This time, Callie picked out what her answer is, which is enough for her to figure out who exactly is on Marie's mind:

Tom Kelpton.

It all makes sense now. After his highlight, Marie wanted to 'talk to him about his match'. She's been thinking about that one thing all this time!

'Unless she has something else to ask Tom about...' Callie thought, grinning to herself.

Her thoughts were cut short when a waiter came up to them.

"Good afternoon girls, are you ready to order?" He kindly asked.

"Oh! We haven't really decided yet. Heh heh." Callie quickly answered. She now realised that a menu was on the table the whole time. As did Marie.

"Well, when you are ready, just let one of us waiters know." He stated before walking off.

Once he's gone, the two girls put their attention onto their menus. Both of them remained silent, for a moment, until-

"Why don't we have an interview with him?" Callie suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Marie asked as she looked up from her menu.

As Callie did the same, "An interview, you know, when we ask the interviewee some questions about something." She explained. "Well, when they calm down after screaming in excitement over us." She added, giggling.

"I know what an interview is, Callie. But what do you mean by 'an interview with him'?"

"I'm talking about the boy you want to know more about: Tom."

Marie silently swallowed. "Um...well, um..." Looked at any place other than Callie, trying to avoid eye-contact.

But Callie stayed silent, watching her, waiting for her sister to respond with, hopefully, the answer she wants. "Well?"

"I, uh... don't think that's a good idea." Marie finally said.

"What?" Callie exclaimed as her eyes went wide. "Come on Marie, we both know you want to talk to him. What better way to do so than an interview?"

"Straight up calling him?" Marie answered absent-mindedly, before looking back at Callie and seeing her facial expression. 'S***...' She thought.

"Wow." Callie started. "That really is a better idea."

"C-Callie, we're not doing that."

"It's either that, or the interview."

"We're not doing either of them!" Marie exclaimed, while sweat started forming on her forehead.

* * *

Back at the apartment, a white bowl was sitting on the coffee table. Said bowl is full of a warm, orange substance that is soup. It was only a plain tomato soup, turned out that there was only one can of soup left in Tom's cupboard.

"Meh, better than nothing." Tom dismissed.

"True." Sam agreed.

But here's the situation, the bowl is taller than Tom; The spoon's head is as big as Tom; The amount of soup in the bowl seems like a lake to Tom. It's simply one problem after another.

"How am I going to have some of the soup now?" Tom asked as he stands next to the bowl.

Sam looked down in thought, it didn't take long as her solution is very simple: "I'll just lower a spoonful down to you for you to use as a bowl."

With that in Tom's mind, he nodded, "Okay, how am I going to eat the soup from the spoon?" He queried.

"I'll let you figure that out." Sam smirked.

She now dipped the spoon into the bowl and brought it back out, filled with soup. Lowering it down carefully so as to not spill any of it onto the table, or worse, onto Tom.

With it now low enough for Tom, he now has to find out a way to eat some of it. Scoop some of it with his hands? Lean his head in and drink from there? Dive straight in? None of them sound like a good idea, but what choice does he have? It's either humiliate himself, eating the soup, or starve himself to death.

He has to think quickly or his portion is going to get cold.

Without giving much of a second thought, he chose the second option: lean his head in and drink the soup from there. After swallowing his first mouthful, he exclaimed,

"Wow, for some reason, this soup tastes better than I remember."

He looked up at Sam, expecting her to respond to that. But what he got was a confused face staring back. "What?"

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Well, to me, it certainly does. I'm not entirely sure why. Could it be because I'm shrunken down and I'm now more sensitive to flavours?" Tom asked himself.

"I guess more things are different when small than I thought..." Sam mumbled to herself, unintentionally loud enough for Tom to pick up.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Huh!?" She yelped, not expecting Tom to ask that question. The sudden movement of her right hand caused some soup to spill over onto the table, dangerously close to Tom, who quickly reacted and back-flipped out of the way, much to his own surprise. "B-by what?" Sam nervously asked, unaware of what she's done.

"By quote-on-quote, 'more things are different when small than I thought'." Tom answered, while being cautious around the spilled soup and purposely leaving out said soup.

"O-oh. I-I mean what I said, I didn't know you'd be more sensitive to tastes in that state." She said. "Who knows what other differences there are."

"I wonder..." Tom murmured. Not just thinking about any other possible differences shrunken down, but the way Sam mumbled her thought, it sounded somewhat suspicious.

* * *

 **Took long enough... Now that I'm finished at college, I should be able to write more chapters for my stories, right? Don't count on it, I'm honestly not entirely reliable when it comes to this.**

 **Anyway, there are a few things I'd like to talk about:**

 **\- Near the start of this chapter, Tom and Sam were watching Countdown. Can you find another method to make 742 using 2, 3, 5, 10, 25 and 75? You can only use each number once.  
**

 **\- A previous review requested that Tom would be interviewed, don't worry if you were expecting it in this chapter. I still have plans for that.  
**

 **Speaking of reviews, I got... 0. Well that's unfortunate... At least I received a new favourite, which I suppose is better than nothing.  
**


	5. The Interview

The time is around 1:30 pm; the sun is high, trying to cook Inkopolis' citizens. But thanks to a large amount of shade provided by tall buildings, the inklings manage to avoid going on the menu.

One building, in particular, bordering Inkopolis Plaza, is providing shade for two celebrities along with a camera crew. While the crew is preparing their equipment into a van, the celebrities in question are having their own conversation.

"I'm making it clear as to why I refuse to go, it's how often you keep saying that I have a crush on Tom. I do not have a crush on him!" Marie stated. "Do you even listen to me, Callie?"

"Of course I do. Except for the part about you not having a crush." Callie teased.

"Wh- Th- Ho-" Marie stammered. "I only said that I wanted to talk to him about that highlight!"

"Uh huh, sure you do." Callie dismissed. "What about what you said at lunch?"

* * *

 _The two girls are sitting at a café near the plaza. It's rather surprising how not many of their fans noticed._

 _"Okay Callie, I'll talk." Marie gave in to Callie's persistence. "There's... there's been a..." She hesitated. "A boy..."_

 _"A what?" Callie asked, not hearing that last part._

 _"A boy, Callie."_

 _"A boy? Who?"_

 _Marie hesitated again. "T-Tom."_

 _They were interrupted by a waiter._

 _"Good afternoon girls, are you ready to order?"_

 _"Oh! We haven't really decided yet. Heh heh." Callie answered quickly._

 _"Well, when you are ready, just let one of us waiters know." The waiter then walked off._

 _After a moment of the two looking at their menus._

 _"Why don't we have an interview with him?" Callie asked suddenly._

 _"Huh?"_

 _"An interview, you know, when we ask the interviewee some questions about something. Well, when they calm down after screaming in excitement over us." Callie giggled._

 _"I know what an interview is, Callie. But what do you mean by 'an interview with him'?"_

 _"I'm talking about the boy you want to know more about, Tom."_

* * *

"Again, I had no intention of having a crush on him!" Marie exclaimed.

"You sounded like you did."

"I was stressed, it was hard for me."

Callie hummed. "'There's, there's been a, a boy.'." She mimicked Marie's quote. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't you being stressed."

A crew member walks up to the two. "Callie, Marie, the van is ready to move and we're now waiting for you."

"Sweet! Come on Marie." Callie then walked towards the car in front of the van. But Marie stood in place.

"I told you, I'm not going if you're just going to keep talking about my 'crush'." Marie quoted that last word, raising two fingers on both hands as she did so.

"Alright, fine. But don't you forget what I said." Callie playfully pointed her finger at her cousin.

* * *

Sometime later...

The duo was sitting in a car along with Andy in the driver's seat. Behind them is the van with the rest of the crew and their equipment.

Callie is sitting with her back straight and hands resting on her lap. She had a smile on her face. Marie was slouched in her seat with her arms crossed. No sign of happiness was present at all on her face, nothing but frowns. And a slight tinge of red.

"We've found out that this Tom fellow lives in Flounder Heights," Andy stated. "Specifically in room 417."

"Just how did you find _that_ out?" Marie asked.

"We looked in the Turf War leagues for him, you know how we have access to their database for a scenario like this? Well, we asked to search for Tom Kelpton and it gave us details about him: Name, age, the date he signed up, level, rank, the last time he played, and of course where he currently lives. The information about any inkling like him is highly confidential and mustn't be revealed to the public." He explained. "Especially wealth."

"So what information does he have?" Callie asked.

"We only took note of what's important, his address. If you want to find out about his level, rank and the like, you'll have to ask him yourself." Andy told her.

The car starts, the van starts, the two vehicles drive off towards Flounder Heights, with the van behind the car. The journey there was quiet, no one said a word. But the two girls in the car kept their respective postures, with Callie excited to see Tom and Marie wishing to go back to the studio.

* * *

Sounds of traffic can be heard out the window, as Tom and Sam sat silently. Neither of them had any idea of what to do now, given Tom's shrunken state. To put it simply, they were bored.

However, there was one sound of a vehicle pulling over near the building, two of them more like. Both inklings' ears pointed upwards, listening to the inconsistency in the traffic.

"Sounds like there are two cars parking outside," Sam commented.

"Check it out, I'll just have a jump around here," Tom said before stretching and then leaping off towards various furniture, even going into some of the other rooms.

Conveniently for Tom, all of the doors to the rooms are open so he can easily get to them. Sam, meanwhile, shrugged at his decision and got up to walk towards the window. Looking out, she spotted the two vehicles she heard earlier, one of them actually being a van.

She watched them, soon seeing inklings and various camera equipment exiting the vehicles. Two of them inklings caught her attention more than the others.

'The Squid Sisters?' She thought to herself. 'What are they doing here?'

Sam looked around the apartment and barely spotted Tom going through the hallway. 'Perhaps it's nothing important to us.' She walked back to the sofa and sat back down.

Eventually, Tom came back. Precisely landing on her right shoulder.

"Well? Anything?" He asked.

"I don't think it's important to us. I doubt anything has happened in Flounder Heights that's worth a camera crew and a news reporter."

"But if it's a camera crew outside, surely something has happened here."

"Maybe, but who knows?"

They go back into silence again, with Tom sitting down on Sam's shoulder. They stayed like like for a while until they can hear voices and footsteps outside the apartment. Tom was the first to notice. The two stayed quiet to listen.

 _"You know I refuse to do this."_

 _"Quit your whining, we're only going to ask a few questions, that's all."_

 _"A few questions always seem to turn into a questionnaire."_

 _"But it's not written down."_

 _"It certainly feels like it."_

 _"We're not the ones answering the questions, we're asking them."_

"Who could be outside?" Sam whispered. "Could it be..."

"Not sure," Tom whispered back.

* * *

"Just roll the camera, we start broadcasting now," Callie told the cameraman.

"Now? Why are you so impatient?" Marie asked.

"I'm not impatient, I have a plan on how this will go. Complete with a couple of backup plans." Callie answered proudly.

"Since when were you to do the planning?"

"When we left the studio, as I doubt you would have any plans."

Marie just stayed silent after that.

"So you're ready to start?" The cameraman asked. "Because we are."

"Yep, roll it!" Callie said.

"Alright, starting the broadcast..." The crew starts to broadcast Inkopolis News to the standard channel. "You are live in three... two... one..."

"Hold on to your tentacles..." Callie started. She looks at Marie, who wasn't saying anything. "It's... Inkopolis News time." Callie finished for her.

"Now you may be wondering why we are in a hallway instead of our studio and why we're broadcasting at a weird time. Well, that's because we have someone who we want to interview, ask him a few questions about his success in turf wars."

"It was all your idea, Callie. I didn't want to do this." Marie interrupted.

"Whatever, we're just outside of his apartment and..." Callie gestures towards door 417. "Let's see if he's inside."

"We could've found out if he was available first before broadcasting," Marie suggested.

"Too late for that, besides, this way is more exciting for all of us." Callie then knocked on the door.

 _"I'll get it."_ was heard from the other side.

'If anything, this will just make us look like idiots if this backfires.' Marie thought.

A second later, the door opened, revealing Sam.

"Oh, hi." Sam opened, she is clearly surprised to see Callie and Marie at the door. "Why are you here?"

"Hey, is Tom Kelpton in there?" Callie asked. "We'd like to have an interview with him."

"Uh..." Sam looks back, seeing Tom standing on the sofa's armrest. He was shaking his head. "He isn't... ready to be on camera." Sam hesitantly told the two.

"Well, we tried," Marie said, prepared to leave.

"But Tom is in there, right?" Callie asked again.

Sam paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Yeah, but-"

"Excellent!" Callie exclaimed before walking in. Out of reflex, Sam moved out of the way. 'Damn, I should have tried to block Callie.' Sam thought to herself.

Seeing this, Tom instantly extended his legs, launching himself into the air away from the entrance. He twisted his body in mid-air, now watching where he's flying to, the other side of the sofa. He aimed his jump just right for him to land on the floor next to the sofa, though being on the floor will be a bad idea, it will be easier to hide.

"Whoa! What is that!?" He heard Callie exclaim just before he fell past the other armrest.

'She must've seen me.' Tom thought. He brought his legs back below him and braced for impact, similar to landing from a super-jump.

"Wh-what was what?" He then heard Sam question.

"I saw something fall just next to the sofa, it looked like some kind of tiny doll."

'That's definitely me she's talking about!' Tom thought. As soon as he hit the floor, he bolted straight under the sofa, in the hopes that no one would look under here. Then again, they aren't expecting to see a shrunken inkling hiding under furniture, so they wouldn't look under here, right?

From underneath, he can see two pairs of shoes in his apartment, along with more just outside the door.

"Are you sure you saw something? I didn't see anything." Sam denied. Whether she's telling the truth or not, he's thankful that Sam is trying to protect him.

"Yeah, I swear I saw something." He saw Callie's boots walk towards where he landed. "You probably weren't looking at where I was looking."

He didn't hear Sam say anything else after that. Tom looked around his hiding place frantically, noticing that the sofa is supported by four thick legs. If Callie is going to look under here, they will provide enough cover.

Thinking fast, Tom ran towards the leg to the left. On his way there, he saw a pair of hands land on the floor in front of him. Callie's kneeling down. He presses his back against the sofa leg, just as Callie's eye came into view.

The beast of a golden eye scanned the area, searching for the 'doll'. Tom's heart-rate skyrocketed, sweat was appearing on his head, but he remained silent and out of sight. His irises went to his left while his head remained facing forward.

The eye continued to search, left, right and centre, but it spotted nothing. Eventually, after a very tense moment, the golden eye gave up and went out of sight. The pair of hands soon followed as Callie stood back up.

"You're probably just seeing things." He heard Sam say.

"You're probably right." Callie agreed. "Where is Tom?"

There was a small pause. "I told you, Tom doesn't want to be on camera, nor interviewed."

"I didn't ask if he wants to be interviewed. I asked where he is."

"Why can't you interview me instead? I'm his best friend, Sam. I likely know him more than anyone else here." Sam suggested, avoiding Callie's question.

"I suppose we could do that." Tom heard Marie say. He then saw more pairs of feet come into his apartment. He sidestepped deeper under his cover, in the hopes that no one spots him. The first time was too close for comfort.

"Why should we?" Callie asked. "I said that we'll interview Tom!"

"And I said that he isn't going to be interviewed." He heard Sam speak sternly, it sounds like she's starting to lose her patience.

"Why not?" The celebrity asked.

Sam paused for a second, which Tom noticed, "He didn't tell me the reason himself. I'd suggest that you at least respect his privacy."

"Hmm..." Callie eyes Sam.

"She does make a point, Callie," Marie piques in. "Maybe if we at least turn off the camera, Tom might show himself?"

Callie pouts as she looks at Marie, but she sighs, turning to the camera as it points directly at her. "I guess we won't be interviewing Tom this broadcast. We'll be back at the studio in the next one. Until then, stay fresh!" Callie finishes as she strikes her signature pose at the camera. The inkling behind it took it as a sign to switch it off.

"Alright, do you want us to stay with you, girls?" One of the crew members asked. "Or do you want us to head back to the studio?"

"Head back there," Callie says. "We'll call you when we're ready to go. I want to at least know where Tom actually is before we go."

"Very well," The member said, nodding. "Let's go, boys," He commands his crewmates, they all pack up their equipment and head back outside, leaving the Squid Sisters, Sam and Tom in the apartment.

"So..." Callie rubs her hands as she turns to Sam expectedly. "Now would you tell us where Tom is?"

Sam sighs. "That would depend on whether you two can keep a secret."

"Many of us can keep secrets, Sam," Marie spoke.

"But can you two?" Sam asks.

"We can," The Squid Sister in green confirms. But Sam isn't very convinced, she looks at Callie, expecting her to be trustworthy.

"Yeah, we can keep a secret." She happily says. "What is it?"

Sam hesitates, she can only hope that these two celebrities truly can keep a secret. If it spreads throughout the city, it can spell disaster for Tom. The boy remains hidden under the sofa, watching the three pairs of feet around his hiding place. After listening to the conversation, it's now inevitable that he has to show himself.

"Alright, Tom," Sam calls throughout the room. "You can come out now."

That's his cue, so Tom takes in a deep breath to calm his nerves. Once the Squid Sisters see him, there's no going back.

Hesitantly, Tom steps out from underneath the sofa. He turns to face its back and leaps up, landing on top of the sofa and revealing himself to the celebrities.

* * *

 **It's been a while, but I've finally finished this chapter. Now, how will the Squid Sisters react to seeing Tom shrunken down? I know, cliffhangers are jerks.**

 **Anyway, I have 9 reviews:**

Darkstar248 (Chapter 4): "Now this I like. Anything with giantess in it is what I like. But one problem. Callie and Marie are cousins, not sisters. Squid Sisters is their stage name. Just letting you know, but otherwise great fic."

 **Rynowm: "You like giantesses, eh? Well, I will warn you there will be 'giant' material later in the story. (Don't blame me if it turns you off.)**

 **I'm well aware that they're cousins. But I may end up referring them as both, no promises."**

Shadow of the Dragons (Chapter 1): "Okay, opening thoughts on the prologue. It's well written, for starters. The characterization of Sam and Tom have been established while at the same time leaving room for them to grow and change as the story progresses. I like how you have made Tom humbler than most other Inklings seem to be, which is quite the breath of fresh air.

The only real critique I have is to watch your tenses. You commonly use the past tense when describing the actions of a character (For example, "Tom muttered to himself."), but when describing the setting or a character's appearance you sometimes slip into using the present tense. As an example, "Sam Krillsky is a good friend of Tom." It is kind of a nitpicky thing, but the tenses switching back and forth can be kind of confusing.

But other than that, overall it's a great first chapter."

 **Rynowm: "I suppose that's a tendency of mine, especially in the examples you used. But thank you."**

Shadow of the Dragons (Chapter 2): "So, thoughts on this chapter.

Nothing really to critique, which is good. I like the trade off that you've created where Tom has become much more agile and swifter than a normal Inkling, but has lost his normal stature. It would be rather interesting to see how this would affect his performance in a Turf War - it could be both an asset and a hindrance. Of course, that is assuming he would even be capable of doing a Turf War in his current state.

I also like how you have made it so that the reader is aware of how Tom has been shrunken down to his current height, but Tom himself does not. I am a big fan of dramatic irony, so to see it in here is quite nice. I wonder how long it will take Tom to figure out that Sam is responsible for his condition."

 **Rynowm: "Even if Tom did get into a match, what can he do? Cover about 10p worth of turf in the entire 3 minutes? He wouldn't stand a chance. Nor would his team, being practically one player short.**

 **And I knew there was a name about the character not knowing something that the reader does... Just couldn't remember that."**

Shadow of the Dragons (Chapter 3): "Again, no real critiques, which obviously is a very good thing. This was a nice, general chapter. You're doing an excellent job keeping your characters in their established personalities, and I like how the drastic change in Tom's life has brought out some fears in him. It's logical for him to be self-conscious about his size, and I am glad that you have included this in your fanfic.

Um, other than that, I can't really think of anything else to say on this one. Nice job on the chapter."

 **Rynowm: "Thank you very much, I'm really glad to know the consistency."**

Shadow of the Dragons (Chapter 4): "Tom's catching on. It looks like"

 **Rynowm: "Herp derp."**

Shads (Chapter 4): "Ah, sorry about that, I accidentally hit "post review" before I was done typing.

So, as I was saying, Tom's catching on to the fact that Sam's the one who's responsible for his condition, but I don't think he's fully realized it yet. That's a nice bit of tension you're working into the story.

I think it will be interesting to see how the interview plays out."

 **Rynowm: "Mistakes are made, Shads. Anyway, yes, only time will tell for his mysterious shrinker."**

pcalix17 (Chapter 1): "Major Issues Thus Far:  
Dialogue: Its a he said she said format and I can barely tell who's saying what at any given time. Include gestures like hand and body movements, how characters say lines such as sarcasm, and facial expressions like smiling or frowning.  
Structure: It keeps jumping through multiple topics, lacking any cohesion as a whole. Many of the sentences can be combined into larger paragraphs.  
Thoughts: More a stylistic but try using Italics to represent internal thoughts. It will help distinguish these dialogues from the rest.  
Authors Notes: A personal peeve of mine. The authors notes in each paragraph immediately break my immersion into the story. Might I suggest placing the notes in one uniform page at the end of the fiction labeled authors notes.

Note that these are not a personal attack on you or the fiction. This is merely improvements I suggest."

 **Rynowm: "Welp, seems like chapter 1 is gonna go through another rewrite. Though this time, I'll likely just focus on your suggested improvements, dialogue, structure, thoughts and maybe AN."**

Hero50 (Chapter 1): "HA HA! This is funny, and creative story! Keep it up, Rynowm. Although, I just can't help but feel that Sam poisoned his drink to make him shrink. Hey, that rhymes!"

 **Rynowm: "When you got time to do a rhyme, you have your say to make your day."**

Hero50 (Chapter 2): "Okay. Sam did it. I know it for sure. It's TOO obvious. with the "resteraunt" confession, and the "sweating over the antidote question" stuff. It is Sam. Why she did it? I do not know. But will probably find out in later chapters. Overall, the story is pretty good. But... he's kinda... (eh... how do I put this...?) like... I don't wanna say arrogant, but like a mix of rude and arrogant. And Sam is kind of annoying.

I actually like your stories, Rynowm, and I'm not trying to be mean IN ANY WAY. I'm just trying to tell you what you could improve.

NOTE: THIS REVIEW OR "COMMENT" IS MEANT AS A SUGGESTION AND "AUTHOR AWARENESS" FROM THE PUBLIC AUDIENCE TELLING YOU WHAT YOU COULD IMPROVE FOR BETTER FANFICTION IN THE FUTURE, NOT AS A PERSONAL ATTACK ON YOU. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE IT THAT WAY."

 **Rynowm: "Don't worry, Hero. I haven't taken your review as an attack, no need to tell me like that. Just be a bit 'profreshional' about it when making constructive criticism. Get the pun?**

 **Anyway, the mystery may be solved in the future, but when? How? Only time will tell. And my motivation to write…"**


End file.
